A share purchase agreement in Romania should do more than record the number of shares and the price. It must connect the buyer’s due diligence findings with the conditions for closing, the seller’s warranties, specific indemnities, price mechanics and the corporate and regulatory steps needed to transfer control safely.

This guide is written for foreign investors, international groups, founders and business owners negotiating the acquisition or sale of a Romanian company. It focuses on private acquisitions of shares or social parts, particularly Romanian limited liability companies (SRLs). Listed-company rules, regulated-sector acquisitions, privatisations and public takeovers require additional analysis.

The article complements our procedural guide to changing shareholders in a Romanian company. That guide covers the Trade Register implementation. This one explains how the commercial acquisition should be investigated, negotiated and protected contractually.

What does a share purchase agreement do in Romania?

A share purchase agreement, commonly called an SPA, is the principal contract under which the seller agrees to transfer and the buyer agrees to acquire shares or social parts in a Romanian company. It identifies the securities, price, conditions, closing process and allocation of risk between the parties.

The agreement operates within Romanian contract law and the mandatory rules applicable to the target’s corporate form. For an SRL, the transfer mechanics must be aligned with Articles 202 and 203 of Company Law no. 31/1990 and the applicable registration formalities before the National Trade Register Office (ONRC).

Why must legal due diligence come before the SPA is finalised?

Due diligence should identify the matters that can change the decision to buy, the valuation, the deal timetable or the contractual protection. A report that merely lists documents does not complete the task. Each material finding should be converted into a transaction response.

The scope normally covers corporate title and governance, financing and security, material contracts, real estate, employment, tax, disputes, permits, regulatory compliance, intellectual property, IT, data protection, environmental matters and beneficial ownership. Sector, size and business model determine the emphasis.

Which clauses matter most in a Romanian share purchase agreement?

The SPA should describe the transaction as one coherent mechanism. Definitions, price, conditions, warranties, disclosure, indemnities, limitations, covenants and closing deliverables must work together. Imported English-law wording should not be used without checking how it operates under the chosen governing law and Romanian mandatory rules.

How should the purchase price be structured?

The price clause should explain both the headline value and the route from that value to the amount paid. A fixed price is not necessarily simple if debt, cash, working capital, leakage, earn-outs, holdbacks or currency conversion remain unresolved.

A buyer should not treat escrow as a substitute for a coherent claims regime. The SPA should state whether recovery is limited to the escrow, whether the buyer may set off, how competing claims are handled and what happens when the escrow expires.

What is the difference between signing and closing?

Signing creates the contractual commitment. Closing completes the agreed transfer and payment once the applicable conditions are satisfied or waived. They may occur on the same day in a simple transaction, but regulatory approvals, third-party consents, financing or restructuring often require a split process.

Which Romanian approvals and filings can affect closing?

The regulatory analysis should begin before the SPA timetable is agreed. A condition drafted after signing cannot restore leverage or time already lost.

Corporate approval and ONRC registration

For an SRL transfer to an outside buyer, Article 202 of Company Law no. 31/1990 applies together with the target’s articles of association. The parties should verify statutory approval thresholds and any pre-emption or consent rights created by the articles of association, as well as pledges and other restrictions. The applicable ONRC registration formalities and the update of the company’s shareholder register should be built into the completion process.

ANAF notification and tax-debt safeguards

The practical scope of Article V of Law no. 239/2025, as amended by Government Emergency Ordinance no. 13/2026, should be verified in light of the transaction structure and current ONRC and ANAF practice. Although the regime was introduced in the context of transfers affecting company control, registration practice during 2026 has raised questions regarding its application to a broader range of SRL share transfers, as discussed in this analysis of emerging ONRC practice. The parties should confirm the current notification, tax-certificate, guarantee and registration requirements before signing and again before filing.

Merger control

An acquisition of sole or joint control may constitute an economic concentration. Under Competition Law no. 21/1996, the Romanian thresholds are generally met where the combined worldwide turnover of the undertakings concerned exceeds EUR 10 million and at least two undertakings concerned each achieved Romanian turnover exceeding EUR 4 million in the previous financial year. The EU Merger Regulation may apply instead where its thresholds are met. Closing before the required clearance can expose the parties to gun-jumping risk.

Investment screening

Romania’s investment-screening regime under Government Emergency Ordinance no. 46/2022 was substantially amended by Government Emergency Ordinance no. 17/2026. The general value threshold is now EUR 5 million, but a transaction below the threshold may still be examined if it may affect security, public order or EU projects or programmes. The rules can apply to EU and non-EU investors, and the filing contribution is EUR 5,000 where an authorisation application is required. Sector, investor, control, value and transaction structure must be screened early.

Sector approvals, lender consents, foreign-subsidy review or contractual change-of-control notices may also be relevant. The SPA should allocate responsibility, information, cooperation, remedies and the long-stop date for each approval.

What should happen at closing?

Closing should be a coordinated exchange, not a loose collection of signatures. The SPA should identify every deliverable, who provides it, its agreed form and whether all actions are deemed simultaneous.

1. Confirm conditions. Record satisfaction or valid waiver of every closing condition.
2. Approve the transfer. Deliver the required shareholder and corporate resolutions.
3. Transfer the shares. Execute the required instruments and update the shareholder register.
4. Pay the consideration. Follow the funds flow, escrow and debt repayment arrangements.
5. Release security. Deliver releases of share pledges, guarantees or target security where agreed.
6. Change governance. Coordinate resignations, appointments, powers of attorney and bank mandates.
7. Deliver control items. Transfer corporate books, credentials, keys, seals and agreed records.
8. Complete filings. Submit ONRC and ANAF documents, together with beneficial-owner filings where required under the applicable transparency rules, within the relevant timetable.

What limitations should apply to seller liability?

Seller limitations often include a de minimis threshold, basket, aggregate cap, time limits, mitigation, exclusion of double recovery and a formal claim procedure. Tax, title, authority, fraud and specific indemnities may have different limits. The commercial result depends on how these provisions interact, not on any one headline cap.

The buyer should also test recoverability. A contractual claim against a seller with no accessible assets may provide little protection. Escrow, holdback, bank security, parent guarantee or warranty and indemnity insurance may be considered depending on transaction size and risk.

A buyer’s pre-signing checklist

1. Define the acquisition perimeter. Confirm percentage, target entities, securities and excluded items.
2. Verify title and authority. Check ownership, encumbrances, approvals and signatory powers.
3. Complete risk-focused due diligence. Prioritise issues that affect value, continuity or closing.
4. Translate findings into protections. Allocate each material issue to remediation, price, condition, warranty, indemnity or withdrawal.
5. Select the price mechanism. Define accounting rules, leakage, debt, cash, working capital and dispute resolution.
6. Screen regulatory approvals. Review merger control, investment screening, sector approvals and third-party consents.
7. Align signing and closing. Specify conditions, conduct rules, long-stop date, termination and closing deliverables.
8. Test recovery. Check caps, time limits, exclusions, seller credit and available security.
9. Plan filings and integration. Prepare ONRC and ANAF filings, beneficial-owner filings where required under the applicable transparency rules, governance steps and day-one actions.

The bottom line

A Romanian SPA should be the final expression of the buyer’s investigation and the parties’ negotiated risk allocation. The strongest agreement is not the longest. It is the one that identifies what is being bought, states how price is calculated, prevents closing before essential approvals, allocates known and unknown risks clearly and gives the parties an executable closing process.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information and does not constitute legal or tax advice. The correct structure, approvals, tax treatment and contractual protections depend on the parties, target, sector and facts of each transaction.

AI Notice: AI-assisted content, reviewed and approved by a qualified Romanian lawyer.

A commercial lease agreement in Romania can commit a company to years of rent, service charges and restoration costs. The commercial decision therefore depends not only on the monthly headline rent, but also on whether the premises can lawfully support the tenant’s activity and whether the contract allocates operational risks clearly.

This guide is intended for landlords and companies leasing offices, retail units, warehouses and other business premises. It explains the principal clauses to check under the Romanian Civil Code and the related property, tax and authorisation framework. Residential leases and leases of public property follow additional rules and are outside this article’s main scope.

Is a written commercial lease mandatory in Romania?

The lease relationship is governed principally by the Romanian Civil Code, especially the general rules on lease agreements. The parties have broad contractual freedom in a business-to-business transaction, but statutory rules apply where the lease is silent, and certain mandatory provisions of Romanian law may apply irrespective of contractual wording.

Under Article 1798 of the Civil Code, a lease concluded in authentic form, or a privately signed lease registered with the competent tax authority, may constitute an enforceable title for rent payment under the conditions stated by law. Tax registration affects enforceability, not the validity of the lease. It is not a universal requirement for the existence of every corporate lease, although the applicable tax and registration duties must still be checked for the particular landlord and transaction.

For leases requiring stronger protection against a future buyer or other third parties, the parties should assess land-book registration. The correct mechanism depends on the property, the lease term and the landlord’s registered title. A company entering a long-term lease should not assume that signature alone gives the same protection as registration.

What should be checked before the commercial lease is signed?

The tenant should compare the land-book extract and cadastral plan with the space actually offered. The review should cover ownership, mortgages, litigation annotations, existing leases, access rights, parking, common areas and the landlord’s authority to grant the agreed use. These checks overlap with a focused real estate due diligence review in Romania.

The proposed activity must also be compatible with the building’s authorised use and applicable planning, fire-safety, sanitary, environmental and sector-specific requirements. A contractual statement that the tenant will obtain “all permits” does not solve a structural problem with the premises. The lease should distinguish permits relating to the building from those relating to the tenant’s own business.

For buildings or units covered by Law no. 372/2005, the owner must address the applicable energy-performance certificate obligations when leasing. The current framework covers offices, retail and other occupied commercial uses, subject to statutory exemptions. See the official energy performance legislation.

The 12 clauses that determine the real commercial risk

1. Parties, authority and guarantees

Identify each party by its full legal name, registered office, registration number and tax code. Confirm the signatory’s authority. If a parent company, bank or shareholder gives security, specify whether it is a guarantee, autonomous demand guarantee, deposit or another instrument, together with its cap, duration and claim procedure.

2. Exact premises and permitted use

The lease should attach a plan and state the exclusive area, common-area allocation, parking and access rights. “Office use” or “commercial use” may be too vague. Describe the actual activity and deal with signage, customer access, deliveries, opening hours, hazardous materials and exclusivity if commercially relevant.

3. Term, commencement and long-stop date

Separate the signature date, handover date, fit-out access date, lease commencement and rent commencement. If delivery or permits are delayed, a long-stop date should allow the affected party to terminate. The Civil Code limits leases to a maximum statutory duration, so unusually long structures require specific review.

4. Rent, currency and indexation

State the currency, payment currency, exchange-rate source, due date and invoicing mechanics. An indexation clause should identify the index, reference period, first adjustment date, whether decreases apply and whether there is a cap or floor. Avoid combining indexation with discretionary “market rent” language unless the valuation procedure is clear.

5. VAT, withholding and invoicing

The lease of immovable property is generally VAT-exempt under the Romanian Fiscal Code, subject to important statutory exceptions and the landlord’s option to apply VAT under the prescribed procedure. Ancillary services, bundled supplies, invoicing structures and certain categories of premises may require distinct treatment. The contract should state whether figures include or exclude VAT and what happens if the VAT treatment changes. The parties should also align invoicing with the applicable Romanian electronic invoicing rules. For wider compliance context, see the site’s Romanian tax guidance.

6. Service charge and operating costs

Define recoverable costs, allocation formula, budget, reconciliation, audit rights and exclusions. Capital expenditure, financing costs, structural defects, landlord negligence, vacancy costs and costs relating to other tenants should not be hidden in a generic “all building expenses” clause. Retail leases may also involve marketing contributions and turnover reporting.

7. Deposit and financial security

Specify the amount, currency, replenishment duty, permitted deductions, return deadline and whether interest accrues. A bank guarantee should state the required issuing bank, wording, expiry buffer and renewal consequences. The landlord should not have an unlimited right to draw security for disputed amounts.

8. Handover, condition and defects

A signed handover protocol should record keys, meters, systems, inventory, photographs and defects. Define the condition standard at delivery and the remedy if the premises fail the agreed technical specifications. The tenant should not inadvertently accept latent or structural defects merely by taking possession.

9. Fit-out, alterations and ownership of improvements

Address design approval, permits, contractors, access, insurance, health and safety, delays and damage. The lease must also say whether improvements become the landlord’s property, whether compensation is available and what must be removed at expiry. These provisions should be coordinated with the construction-law implications of fit-out works.

10. Repairs, maintenance and building services

The Civil Code places core delivery, maintenance and peaceful-use obligations on the landlord, while the tenant normally bears routine repairs resulting from ordinary use, subject to the contract and the nature of the defect. A commercial lease should allocate structure, roof, façade, common systems, HVAC, internal installations and statutory upgrades expressly, together with response times and self-help rights.

11. Assignment, subletting and corporate change

The Romanian Civil Code contains specific rules on assignment and subletting, which are frequently modified by commercial lease clauses. The contract should therefore state whether landlord consent is required and on what conditions. The tenant may seek objective consent standards for group reorganisations, business transfers and subleases, while the landlord may require financial tests or continued liability.

12. Default, termination, force majeure and hardship

List the defaults that justify termination, notice method, cure periods and consequences. Non-payment, unlawful use, loss of permits and abandonment need different treatment. Insolvency provisions should be reviewed together with the applicable insolvency legislation: Article 123 of Law no. 85/2014 maintains ongoing contracts at the opening of insolvency proceedings and may limit clauses that terminate or accelerate solely because insolvency has commenced. Force majeure should address genuine impossibility, while hardship or major economic disruption requires a separate allocation because increased cost alone is not automatically force majeure.

What happens if the building is sold?

Articles 1811 and following of the Civil Code regulate when a lease is opposable to a purchaser and the consequences of transferring the leased property. For registered immovable property, notation of the lease in the Land Registry is a central opposability mechanism; other statutory rules may apply depending on the property and transaction. The lease should require the landlord to notify a sale, procure the buyer’s assumption of obligations and transfer the deposit or guarantees correctly. For material long-term premises, the tenant should assess Land Registry notation and lender non-disturbance arrangements. The seller’s continuing liability, if any, should be stated rather than assumed.

Can the landlord enforce unpaid rent without a full lawsuit?

Article 1798 of the Civil Code gives qualifying leases enforcement value for rent. Separate rules may also support restitution of the premises when a fixed-term lease expires. Parties should coordinate default clauses with Romanian civil procedure and should not assume that a contractual label such as “enforceable” creates enforcement rights by itself. Broader non-payment strategies are covered in the guide to recovering unpaid business claims in Romania.

Landlord and tenant negotiation checklist

1. Verify title, cadastral identity, authority and encumbrances.
2. Confirm that the building and the intended activity can obtain the necessary approvals.
3. Attach the plan, technical specifications, handover standard and fit-out rules.
4. Model rent, indexation, VAT, service charge, utilities and exit costs.
5. Allocate structural, routine and statutory repair obligations precisely.
6. Align guarantees with actual exposure and release dates.
7. Negotiate cure periods, break rights, long-stop dates and restoration obligations.
8. Assess tax registration, enforceability and land-book protection.
9. Record condition, meters, defects and assets in the handover protocol.
10. Retain signed notices, invoices, approvals and service-charge reconciliations.

The bottom line

A commercial lease agreement in Romania is primarily a long-term allocation of business risk. The strongest contract is not necessarily the longest. It is the one that identifies the premises accurately, prices the full occupancy cost, makes the authorisation path workable and provides realistic remedies when delivery, operation or exit does not go as planned.

Before committing to a significant lease, both landlord and tenant should coordinate the legal document with technical due diligence, tax treatment, insurance and the operational timeline. A focused contract review in Romania can identify inconsistencies before the commercial timetable makes them expensive to correct.

AI Notice: AI-assisted content, reviewed and approved by a qualified Romanian lawyer.

RO e-Factura in Romania is no longer only a local accounting issue. A foreign company may be affected because it has a Romanian subsidiary, a fixed establishment, a Romanian VAT registration, domestic transactions or Romanian customers. The correct result depends on the company’s VAT status and the transaction—not simply on the country in which the parent company is incorporated.

This guide updates the existing Atrium article for the 2026 rules and is intended for foreign investors, finance teams, Romanian subsidiaries and non-resident businesses with Romanian VAT exposure. It should be read together with advice on Romanian tax law and, where a foreign entity needs a local fiscal identifier, the guide to obtaining a Romanian NIF tax identification number.

What changed for RO e-Factura in 2026?

The most important operational change is the move from five calendar days to five working days. The change was introduced through Government Emergency Ordinance no. 89/2025, which amended OUG no. 120/2021 and replaced the previous five-calendar-day transmission deadline with a five-working-day deadline effective from 1 January 2026. See also the explanatory summaries published by Contabilul and VATupdate. The deadline runs from the invoice issue date, but it cannot extend beyond five working days calculated from the statutory deadline for issuing that invoice under the Romanian Fiscal Code. Public holidays and the precise date from which the period is calculated should therefore be built into the company’s controls.

Does RO e-Factura apply to a foreign company?

There is no reliable yes-or-no answer based only on the existence of a Romanian VAT number. The analysis should identify the supplier, customer, place of supply, establishment used for the transaction, VAT-registration status and invoice category.

A Romanian subsidiary is a Romanian-established taxable person. A foreign company may also have a Romanian fixed establishment if the relevant VAT tests concerning sufficient permanence and human and technical resources are met. By contrast, a foreign company can be registered for Romanian VAT without being established in Romania.

Particular care is required where a foreign company is not established in Romania but holds a Romanian VAT registration. Such businesses should not automatically be analysed under the same mandatory domestic B2B clearance rules that apply to taxable persons established in Romania. Their obligations must be verified separately under the specific provisions applicable to non-established VAT-registered persons and any optional RO e-Factura registration route.

How does the electronic invoice flow work?

The invoice is prepared as structured data compliant with the Romanian semantic model, based on the European e-invoicing standard. It is transmitted through the Ministry of Finance infrastructure, commonly through SPV-integrated software or an authorised technical solution. The system validates the file. If validation succeeds, the electronic seal is applied and the validated file becomes the system invoice. If it fails, the issuer receives an error response and must correct and resubmit it.

The official platform makes files available for download for a limited operational period. This is not a substitute for the company’s own legally compliant archive. The archive should allow the original XML, seal or validation status, readable representation, correction trail and accounting entry to be matched.

Technical specifications, validators and official web applications are published through the Ministry of Finance technical information page and the RO e-Factura web applications page.

Which transactions are in scope?

The Romanian rules cover several legally distinct streams: B2B, B2G and B2C reporting, as well as particular reporting obligations for non-established persons. Companies should not use a single ERP flag called “Romanian customer” as a substitute for the legal analysis.

The B2C reporting regime introduced for suppliers established in Romania should not automatically be assumed to apply to every non-resident supplier. For foreign businesses without a Romanian establishment, the legal position should be verified separately based on the applicable provisions and transaction structure.

How is the five-working-day deadline calculated?

From 1 January 2026, the invoice must generally be transmitted within five working days from the issue date, but no later than five working days after the last legal date on which the invoice should have been issued. The day of the triggering event, weekends and Romanian public holidays can affect the calculation under the applicable time-computation rules.

A delayed invoice issue date does not automatically postpone the transmission deadline. Where the invoice is issued after the statutory issuance deadline under Article 319 of the Romanian Fiscal Code, the five-working-day transmission period must be assessed by reference to the legal issuance deadline rather than the late issuance date. This backstop is also explained in the 2026 deadline summary.

For example, if an invoice is issued on a Monday and there is no public holiday, Tuesday is ordinarily the first working day and the following Monday is the fifth. This is only an illustration: the statutory invoice-issuance deadline and Romanian public holidays must also be checked.

What happens if an invoice fails validation?

A technically rejected file has not completed the required process. The response should be triaged immediately: identify whether the problem concerns syntax, master data, tax codes, totals or a business-rule conflict; correct the source data; regenerate the XML; resubmit it; and preserve both the failed and successful responses.

A successfully communicated invoice cannot simply be “returned” inside the system. Commercial objections should be handled separately, and corrections should follow Article 330 of the Romanian Fiscal Code. The corrective document must itself be transmitted when the RO e-Factura obligation applies.

What penalties and audit risks should foreign companies consider?

The penalty analysis depends on the legal obligation that has been breached. Late reporting can attract fixed fines by taxpayer category. For mandatory domestic B2B exchange, issuing or accepting an invoice outside the system can trigger a percentage-based sanction. The 15% sanction should not be applied mechanically to every cross-border or non-resident scenario without first confirming that the relevant statutory route covers the transaction and party.

The applicability of the 15% sanction should always be assessed by reference to the specific statutory obligation governing the transaction, including the supplier’s establishment status and the legal route under which the invoice was required to be transmitted.

Implementation checklist for a foreign company

1. Map the Romanian footprint. Identify subsidiaries, branches, fixed establishments, VAT registrations and fiscal representatives.
2. Classify transaction flows. Separate domestic B2B, B2G, B2C, exports, intra-Community supplies, local reverse-charge cases and other cross-border services.
3. Confirm access and authority. Verify SPV access, qualified certificates, mandates and the persons authorised to submit or retrieve files.
4. Update master data. Record establishment status, Romanian VAT identifiers, customer type and system-participation status separately.
5. Test XML generation. Validate tax codes, units, discounts, advance invoices, credit notes, currency and rounding rules.
6. Build deadline monitoring. Use Romanian working days, identify the statutory issue-date backstop and prevent submission only on the final day.
7. Create an error workflow. Route rejected files to a named owner and require documented resubmission.
8. Control incoming invoices. Reconcile accounts payable with RO e-Factura where domestic B2B exchange is mandatory.
9. Archive the evidence. Preserve XML, seal or response, readable copy, corrections and submission logs under the applicable accounting and tax-retention rules.
10. Review changes. Monitor the official Ministry of Finance RO e-Factura hub, current legislation and ANAF technical announcements.

Official registration and verification resources

At the time of publication, ANAF documentation refers to Form 081 for the optional register, Form 082 for the mandatory register and Form 083 for certain non-resident operators. Companies should verify the current ANAF form catalogue before implementation, as registration procedures and form numbering may change over time.

At the time of publication, Form 083 is generally used by certain non-established operators wishing to opt into RO e-Factura. Companies should verify the current ANAF requirements before filing because registration procedures may change.

Use the official ANAF forms catalogue and the ANAF online registers. For the governing framework, consult the current consolidated text of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 120/2021, together with subsequent amendments including Law no. 88/2026.

Frequently asked questions

This article provides general information on Romanian electronic invoicing and tax compliance. The result depends on the transaction, place of supply, establishment, VAT status, invoice type, technical implementation and legislation in force. It does not replace legal or tax advice on a specific invoice flow.

AI Notice: AI-assisted content, reviewed and approved by a qualified Romanian lawyer.